ABSTRACT
This chapter develops a framework for studying employment relations (ER) in Latin America and, in the process, indicates how we might analyse ER more broadly in other emerging market economies. Employment relations is often understood in the context of strategic interactions among employers, labour and state representatives in the formal labour market. This, no doubt, captures a large share of ER dynamics in Latin America. But almost half of all workers in the region labour in the informal sector, where most labour laws do not apply. In addition, the national context has a strong influence on ER dynamics, which is felt not only through the legacies of Iberian colonisation and resulting systems of civil law, but also through legacies of state corporatism and authoritarian rule. Finally, international influences have a particularly strong impact on ER, with a growing share of workers employed in MNC-led global supply chains. Yet, within these common trends, there are persistent variations, notably between larger and more economically advanced countries and smaller and less developed countries. Trade union density varies between 38 per cent in Argentina and three per cent in Guatemala, while collective bargaining coverage varies between over 40 per cent in Brazil and under two per cent in Paraguay.
